26th September

Having not been out on the bike since Monday and then for only 6.4 miles because of a puncture I knew I had to get some miles done today. Mum has been doing 60 lengths a day all week and now only has 60 left to complete her challenge!

I set off to do the East Coker, Dorchester Road loop which is about 6 miles then the plan was to cycle towards Ham Hill and down through Odcombe to meet Mum for a coffee at Palmers garden centre. That little jaunt took me to 11.4 miles today but starting the day with 57 miles left to do I knew I had to continue. I looped down Preston Road then back via the Westland cycle track then all the way across town to the golf club for a pit stop.

I headed for home in a heavy downpour and a couple of laps of the block later I'd put in 22.19 miles today leaving me with just over 35 miles left.

Mum had originally planned to have tomorrow off and do her final 60 lengths on Friday morning so my plan was to do about 22 again tomorrow then do my final 13 or so at the same time as Mum swims on Friday so we can call it a friendly draw!

However, reading the banter on Facebook it now looks like Mum is going for the win and isn't having the day off after all!

I've got a few options... I can either get up at a stupidly early time and attempt to cycle 35 miles before Mum can do an hour in the pool but as the pool opens at 6:30am Mum will be finished by 7:30am so I'd have to set off at 4:45am!

Another option is to go out for another 20 or so miles now in the dark and in the rain thus leaving around 15 miles or just over an hour of cycling for tomorrow morning. The problem is that I've just eaten a huge plate of hot chilli with rice, bread, and beer so I'm feeling a bit full!

The third option is to just forget it, finish in my own time, and let Mum take the win...

I'm going to let my chilli go down for an hour or so and then decide...

You're probably wondering how Kimberly is getting on? Well she ran a great 6 or so miles with the running club on Tuesday leaving just over 13 miles. Her plan is to split that between a run tomorrow, and a club run on Sunday. There is also the possibility that she has done a couple of runs in secret and is planning on victory tomorrow - even more reason to lunge for the finishing line myself!